KPMG fallout: cheating allegations raise new questions

After new allegations at KPMG of cheating on internal training tests, audit committees now have questions about their external auditors’ own adherence to standards – are controls in place, are they well-designed, and are they operating effectively? In what is supposedly the SEC’s largest-ever monetary penalty against an audit firm, KPMG agreed to a $50m settlement and admitted to facts in the SEC’s order describing extensive activity at all seniority levels on 2 separate fronts to circumvent regulatory scrutiny. The firm not only admitted to facts surrounding the 2018 revelation of internal use of information stolen from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, but also to newly revealed details of extensive cheating on professional training exams. On top of this, some of the testing circumvented by KPMG auditors relates to extra training required by the SEC as part of an enforcement order that KPMG settled in 2017 over audit failures for a client. Find out more at https://www.complianceweek.com/accounting-and-auditing/kpmg-fallout-cheating-allegations-raise-new-questions/27281.article